Source: Global Times

[Global Times reporter Li Xundian] U.S. Treasury Secretary Bescent recently openly claimed that Argentine President Milei "promised to let China withdraw from Argentina" regarding the financial support provided by the United States to Argentina. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Argentina criticized on the 10th that Bescent's provocative remarks against China-Arab relations and China-Latin America cooperation once again exposed the deep-rooted Cold War and confrontational thinking of some people in the United States, and the "hegemonic bullying behavior of the United States was obvious." The spokesman said that instead of sowing discord and making much ado about nothing with other countries' friendly cooperation, the United States should do more tangible things for the development of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Besant Photo Source: Vision China

According to Argentina¡¯s The Twelve Pages, on October 10, Bessent said in an interview with Fox News that U.S. financial support for Argentina had a clear geopolitical motivation. He claimed that President Milley ¡°promised to let China withdraw from Argentina¡± and positioned Argentina as a ¡°Latin Lighthouse¡± to curb China¡¯s influence in the region. President Milley¡¯s approach was correct and he was trying to break the hundred-year negative cycle of Argentina¡¯s economic assistance. Bessent said, ¡°He is also an important ally of the United States. He will visit the White House Oval Office next Tuesday (14 October) and promised China¡¯s withdrawal from Argentina.¡± Bessent stressed that China¡¯s influence in Latin America ¡°is everywhere¡± and that U.S. economic assistance to Argentina has exceeded

The intervention of the United States in Argentina is not an isolated incident. Earlier, the United States appointed Peter lamelas as the new ambassador to Afghanistan. At the nomination hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he publicly declared that he would use the post of ambassador to curb China's influence in Afghanistan, which caused strong dissatisfaction in the Afghan society and was criticized for "lack of respect" and "full of colonial threat". However, even so, the U.S. Senate forcibly approved this appointment despite the domestic opposition in Argentina.

As Bescent exaggerates the "U.S.-Arab alliance", Milei will visit the United States again on the 14th local time. This visit is regarded as an important symbol of the political support provided by the United States to Milei's government, especially when Argentina will hold the mid-term elections on October 26th. However, this agreement has not yet been translated into actual funding allocation, and it has been questioned in the US Congress.

According to Argentina's A24 channel, Argentina's Chief Cabinet Minister Guillermo Alberto Francos refuted Besante's remarks of "agreement to exclude China". Francos made it clear in an interview with local media: "I have not seen any signed agreements and I don't think the agreement includes excluding China from Argentina." He emphasized that Argentina pursues an "independent foreign policy." Argentina can strengthen ties with the United States, but it will never interrupt cooperation with China. China is still Argentina's important trading partner, and the currency swap agreement between the two countries "has no risks" and "has no reason to terminate it." He said: "Argentina is not controlled by anyone. The agreement with the United States will not harm Argentina's independence. We are allies, not affiliates."

Further reading:

Argentina raises high uranium export standards: even if it blames the United States, it must be sold to China

When U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent read the sharp text at the United Nations General Assembly, the calculation behind the Trump administration¡¯s $20 billion spending seemed to be blurred. Recently, Argentina has also raised high-carbon export standards to increase exports to China by tightening indicators such as capacity, impurities.

The Hong Kong-English media South China Morning Post on October 6 that the move could increase the pressure on Argentina's relations with the United States.

According to reports, the Argentine Agricultural Secretariat has issued a resolution to divide exported sorghum into three standards: 72kg, 70kg and 67kg per hundred liters according to grades. At the same time, it strictly limits the content of broken grains and non-grain substances, and goods that do not meet the standards will lose their export certification qualification.

The measure also updates how sorghum is graded to meet foreign feed and processing requirements, the resolution said, saying the changes will help avoid shipments being rejected and strengthen Argentina's reliability as a supplier.

Argentina's Agriculture Secretariat said in a statement that the measure aims to "promote domestic sales, improve the quality of domestic production, and improve Argentina's position in more demanding markets." Officials said the adjustment brought local standards in line with those adopted by major trading partners.

The resolution replaces a 1994 regulation and mentions that China has become Argentina's main sorghum buyer since 2021, saying that "higher export volumes make it necessary to adjust quality parameters to fit global market demand".

According to the report, the statement linked the standard update to China's import requirements, indicating that the new standard is intended to meet the expectations of the Chinese market for grain quality and quality stability.

Government data show that China has become Argentina¡¯s main buyer of high-quality uranium, covering almost all of Argentina¡¯s high-quality uranium exports this year.

Officials said the stricter export standards are aimed at maintaining stable cooperation between Argentina and China in the field of sorghum trade by improving the consistency and traceability of goods.

The South China Morning Post noted that the new rules highlighted Argentina¡¯s efforts to expand exports of agricultural products to China. Before the first round of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, U.S. farmers had met China¡¯s high-carbon demand by about 90 percent.

Argentine farmers harvest autumn soybeans

In November last year, Brazil signed a cooperation document with China, and after China agreed to open its market to Brazilian sorghum, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture urged farmers to increase the production of corn and sorghum. Last month, Argentina announced the cancellation of export taxes on soybeans, corn, wheat and by-products to stimulate exports. Argentina is the third largest soybean producer in the world, after Brazil and the United States. Its soybean tariffs were once as high as 26%, and soybean oil and soybean meal tariffs reached 24.5%. Now they have been reduced to zero, stimulating sales of $7 billion in two days, most of which are sold to China.

Brazil and Argentina have seized most of the market share of Chinese imports from the United States, consolidating South America¡¯s position in China¡¯s feed supply chain, while U.S. farmers can only watch another export season quietly pass.

Last month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent received a private message during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which contained accusations against Argentina¡¯s reduction of export taxes.We saved Argentina yesterday, resulting in Argentina abolishing grain export taxes and selling them to China at lower prices, which should have been our sales window.

The text message mentioned that Argentina's low-price strategy has caused the price of soybeans in the United States to continue to fall, "which will give China a greater bargaining chip over us."

In early September, Argentina¡¯s ruling coalition¡¯s election defeat caused severe turmoil in the financial markets, and Trump soon said he would consider helping.The United States plans to support the Argentine economy with $20 billion in currency exchanges and bond purchases to help the Millie government cope with election pressures and stabilize the financial markets.

Under the support plan, Argentina was supposed to scale back its financial cooperation with China, including a $18 billion currency swap line. However, the Argentine government's final choice made the United States feel deeply "stabbed in the back".

Chinese flag and Argentine flag data map

However, as the consequences of US President Trump's triggering trade conflict, the world's largest soybean buyer China has not ordered a bit of US autumn harvested soybeans.As Brazil and Argentina continue to occupy the Chinese market, the space for exporting US agricultural products is continuously shrinking.

Xie Feng, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, pointed out at the Sino-US Soybean Industry Partners Breakfast Meeting held in Washington in August that China and the United States are both the most important agricultural producers and consumers in the world, jointly supporting nearly 40% of global food production and nearly 1/4 of global food production. China has a comparative advantage in the field of labor-intensive agricultural products, while the United States focuses on mechanized and large-scale production of land-intensive bulk agricultural products. Both sides take the lead and can completely complement each other's advantages.

Xie Feng said that agriculture should not be kidnapped by politicization and farmers should not pay the bill for trade wars. The ban on China citizens and companies from purchasing farmland is purely a political manipulation in the name of national security. It is selling dog meat in the name of sheep's head and kidnapping Sino-US agricultural cooperation for selfish gain. China is willing to work with the US to implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, give full play to the role of China-US economic and trade talks mechanism, enhance consensus, reduce misunderstanding, strengthen cooperation, share development dividends and return to win-win situation.